Happy Anniversary Miss Molly!

Somehow destiny comes into play.
These children end up with you and you end up with them.
It's something quite magical.
~Nicole Kidman

March 29, 2007
In a hot, stuffy room of the Guangzhou Civil Affairs office, Tony and I (along with 16 other families) waited not-so-patiently for destiny to unfold. Soon the time came, our names were called and little Guan Hai Yan was placed into our waiting arms. It was magical. Of course it was kind of hard to feel the magic on account of all the screaming. Yep, we got the screamer on the group and she exercised her lungs for the first 2 hours. We didn't care. We were in love. She was the most perfect, most beautiful, most incredible thing that we had ever seen.

March 29, 2008
Molly Michelle Hai Yan woke up and played quietly in her crib. When we walked into her room, she jumped up, flashed her million dollar smile and giggled. She still is the most perfect, most beautiful, most incredible thing that we have ever seen. There are times when we look up from whatever we are doing, catch a glimpse of her and have to pinch ourselves to make sure that we are not dreaming.

The past year has been beyond what we ever imagined it could be. Molly amazes us every day. She is smart, funny, self-confident, and loving. She is strong-minded, opinionated and vocal--and we wouldn't want her any other way. She is a blessing that is far beyond what we deserve and are so proud to be her parents.

Happy Gotcha Day, Miss Molly. Your mommy and daddy love you so very much!

2007 2008


2007 2008


2007 2008


2007 2008

Easter 2008

Easter 2007 found us in Guangzhou, China. We had a new baby in our arms and a look on our faces that was a cross between total euphoria and dazed cluelessness! We were thrilled to have Molly in our arms, but holy cow, we had Molly in our arms! We spent Easter just trying to figure out what the heck we were suppose to do for this helpless baby! It seemed as though Easter came and went without much fanfare.

Fast forward: Easter 2008. We still haven't totally figured out what the heck we a supposed to be doing for our daughter, but we have a lot more confidence than we did a year ago. So bring on the holiday!

Molly enjoyed dying Easter eggs...

Digging through her Easter basket....

And hunting for eggs.

Now if I can just explain to Molly that M&Ms are not one of the five basic food groups!

It was a holiday of joyous memories for our little family. What a difference a year makes!

Happy Easter to you all!

Shuffle Off to Buffalo

Going to Buffalo for three cold, snowy days in March was the realization of a dream for me. Well, it wasn't exactly going to Buffalo that was my dream, but rather who I met while I was there.

Early on in our adoption process, I met Amy. She was also adopting from China, using the same agency and had her paperwork logged in with China about the same time as ours. We got to know each other through an online Yahoo group and found out that we had a lot in common.

Throughout the long and often painful wait for our daughters, we leaned on each other for support. We exchanged countless emails for over a year and a half; sharing tears, joy, hope and a lot of dreams about our future daughters. One of our dreams was of the day when we could sit and watch our daughters play together.

In December 2006, Amy and her husband Nigel received their beautiful daughter Hayee.

And in March 2007, Tony and I received Molly.

We now had our girls. It would seem pretty easy to bring them together, right? Not exactly. Amy and I live three states apart--over 10 hours to drive. And on top of this, Amy and I had never met in person!

For months, Amy and I continued to talked about our dream. We soon realized, however, that it was going to be a lot harder to accomplish than we thought. Driving long distances with babies, used up vacation banks, and lack of funds were all roadblocks. But we kept dreaming.

I am overjoyed to report that from March 10-12 Amy and I fulfilled our dream! We took out a map and found a good halfway point between our houses: Buffalo, NY. That was the place where we would meet. Who cared that it was March and Buffalo is one of the snowiest cities in America. We had a dream to capture!

And capture it, we did! Molly and I met Amy and Haylee in the lobby of our hotel. The girls were a little unsure of each other at first; Amy and I weren't. It was like we had been friends for a lifetime. The girls quickly followed suit. Within an hour, they were chasing each other around, imitating each other and discovering all kinds of mischief together. Amy and I just sat back, with tears in our eyes at times, and took it all in. We were at the end of a very long road. A place we often thought we would never reach.






The beautiful thing about this dream is that it can now live on. We had so much fun together that we are looking forward to our next trip together. Let's just hope it's somewhere a little warmer than Niagara Falls in the dead of winter!
(Yes, it's as cold as is looks!)


Thanks for the memories Amy and Haylee!